'Getting global markets right means looking seriously at what Justice Holmes once famously called 'the operations of the law' - and this book does that beautifully.' Fabian Muniesa, Ecole des Mines de Paris and author of The Provoked Economy 'This book illuminates a key but overlooked facet of the making of globalization: the power that lawyers, and the international private law they make, hold in shaping contractual expectations, fulfillments and failures.' Nitsan Chorev, Harmon Family Professor of Sociology and International Studies, Brown University and author of Remaking US Trade Policy: From Protectionism to Globalization 'Assembling outstanding contributions from world-class scholars, Contractual Knowledge offers a unique contribution to our understanding of the chaotic history of the present international legal order.' Joseph Nathan Cohen, City University of New York, Queens College '... this book offers a set of insightful and convincing arguments which explain how governments and other international actors created and shared their interpretations of contracts. These ideas were often disputed by other groups. With a broad coverage of jurisdictions and legal systems, it provides much for those with an interest in globalization, international transactions and the decline of national bargaining power.' Victoria Barnes, EH.Net